Category: Food
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The Great Indochina Expedition, Episode 6: Angkor at Last!
On New Year’s Day 2026 we tuktukked to the visitor center at Angkor Archaeological Part, got our three-day passes, admired the Christmas decorations, and then headed into the park for our first look at the ruins. The first day focused on Angkor Thom, the remains of the former capital city of the Khmer Empire. (Angkor…
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The Great Indochina Expedition, Episode 5: In and Around Siem Reap
December 30 was our first full day in Siem Reap. We kicked off the day with a visit to the Wat Bo temple (I’m being redundant here: “Wat” means “Temple,” but it does make the whole thing more clear), not far from the Rambutan hotel. Wat Bo is an active Buddhist monastery, and indeed we…
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The Great Indochina Expedition, Episode 4: Road Trip!
The original Lost Plate tour schedule included a day in Battambang, a city southwest of Tonle Sap lake. But because of the Recent Unpleasantness with Thailand, they dropped that from the schedule and routed us around the northeast shore of the lake instead. For the first time we did not travel by tuk-tuk: we had…
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The Great Indochina Expedition, Episode 3: Emotional Whiplash Day
Our tour set out again on the morning of December 28, aboard tuk-tuks once again. The first stop was not far from the Rambutan, at a restaurant where we tried a Cambodian breakfast specialty: a noodle soup called Kuy Teav. Suihong, the trainee guide, explained that it’s not the sort of thing one has every…
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The Great Indochina Expedition, Episode 2: Phnom Penh
On our first full day in Cambodia we woke up early — which was surprising as I had expected to be utterly wiped out after the flight. Apparently my body decided that sitting in a chair for 30 hours didn’t count as “real fatigue” so I didn’t deserve real sleep. At breakfast we met one…
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Australia, Part 7
From Warrnambool we drove west along the coast some more, but not far. Just a few miles away is Tower Hill, a fascinating environment well worth the stop. The southern part of the Australian state of Victoria is made of limestone. It's even called the "Limestone Coast." That's how you get cool formations like the…
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Australia, Part 4
In honor of Independence Day in the United States of America, I'm going to continue the narrative of our visit to Australia. On May 5 we started our day with brunch at the Sydney Seafood Market — some big raw oysters and an assortment of sushi. No clownfish. Then by foot to the Australian National…
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Australia, Part 3
Our first full day in Sydney was Saturday, May 3. That was also the date of an "author event" at Abbey's Bookshop in downtown Sydney, which was one reason we scheduled our visit then. The reading and signing were set for afternoon, so in the morning we woke early and breakfasted at a chocolate shop…
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Australia, Part 2
Thursday, April 24: We saw the hulk of the clipper ship City of Adelaide, which sits on land supported by a steel framework near the Port of Adelaide. The ship was built 160 years ago, with an iron frame and wood hull, made multiple trips around the world during the mid-19th century, spent some time…
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Christmas Dinner Bragging
The menu for this year's Christmas dinner (with photos when I remembered to take them): Smoked Whitefish Pickled Herring in Sour Cream Vermont Camembert Cremant de Loire Prosciutto-Wrapped Shrimp Braised Beef Brisket Sauteed Potatoes Roasted Brussels Sprouts Medoc Poached Salmon Mixed Green Salad Christmas Pudding Ice Cream
The Cambias Digression 